


Grapefruit

by twitch



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Comfort Food, Common Cold, Humor, Innuendo, M/M, Nicknames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 13:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9324923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twitch/pseuds/twitch
Summary: Normally they went to the grocery store together but when a cold keeps Hux homebound Ben goes by himself. Never again.- How Hux winds up being called Grape.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I initially had this idea in my head as an anonymous prompt for a friend on Tumblr. Then I started coming up with my own idea. Oops.

Normally they went to the grocery store together for the reason that Ben was inclined to buy anything that struck his fancy. He wasn’t comparable to a kid in a candy store, not at all. His fit physique suggested as much, not that he didn’t have the occasional indulgence and work out routinely. It was well known that once he hit the grocery store Ben would start fantasising about how he could spruce up an otherwise boring weekday dinner. Hux’s job was to keep the fantasising mostly inline, stick to their list and keep to their grocery budget. 

However the stuffy nose he had the previous night developed into sneezing and coughing that morning. Ben’s promise to make him homemade chicken noodle soup was the only reason he let him go the store on his own rather than postpone the groceries for a few more days.

Setting up the couch for a post-lunch movie session, complete with blankets and tissues, Hux had a few dvds to choose from when he heard the door to the apartment open. “Do you need a hand?” he called but his voice decided to die out on a croak.

“You sit down Grape, I’ll take care of things in the kitchen.”

He knew his ears were full, from the assault of a head cold, but he was fairly sure he understood the instructions. It was the question of what Ben had called him that had him joining him in the kitchen, leaning against the closest section of counter while Ben started emptying the bags into the available space around. Vegetables and chicken were set closest to the stove – their well stocked supply of spices was on the rack, already full, above the stove. Orange juice followed straight into the fridge. The other essentials that had already been on their list was put in their respective locations. A small collection of fruit went into the large bowl in the corner, including the crowning touch, a grapefruit.

Oh. That must’ve been what he was talking about. 

“Should I get two bowls out for us?” Hux offered, remembering that he was in front of the cupboard that held the dishes. First he shuffled aside to open the doors that his legs had been blocking, the biggest pot inside.

The pot he took out was gently, but quickly, taken from his hands. “I’ll take care of lunch. You sit down and rest Grape.”

Flinching away from the lips that touched his heated forehead, bemused but not upset, Hux crossed his arms. “At first I thought I was imagining things but now I know I’m not. Grape? What is that for?” 

“For Grapefruit.” The answer wasn’t the one he was looking for and Ben knew it, grinning while washing his hands once he set the pot down on the stove. 

Hux resisted the urge to cock his head. “And you’re not going to explain that?”

“Do I have to?” 

Now he was doing it on purpose. “My name is Hux. Not grape or grapefruit,” he reminded.

“I’ll be sure to tell Phasma that the next time she calls you General.”

He was not going to huff. Lucky that the sound that came from his throat was the result of too much coughing and not enough tea, he already spent too much time running back and forth from the washroom that morning, he shook his head. “Why are you calling me Grape?”

“It suits you,” Ben stated before putting the last of the things he didn’t need for the soup away. 

He did roll his eyes. “How is that?” 

Ben had rolled up his sleeves, getting ready to start the soup, but positioning himself with his hands spread on the counter behind him, height tall and bearing, he looked more like a professor about to set a surly room of students in order in his lecture hall. “First you both share the same striking shade of orange,” he pointed out.

Groan dry and grating at his throat Hux wondered if he could smother himself with his hand. It certainly hampered his ability to breathe. “It’s always the hair,” he muttered.

“And the perfect grapefruit has a hint of pink.” Underneath his hand he could feel his cheeks heating up, to which Ben flashed smug eyes. “Like that cute little flush you’ve got going-”

“Alright.” Trying to cut off Ben before he was blushing fully Hux waved his hand, gesturing for him to turn around and start chopping the veggies. “I get it. We share an aesthetic. Point made and proven. Thank you. Explanation complete.”

“Oh, but there’s more.” Ben chuckled, louder when he saw the tell of tightening jaw that suggested he was near gritting his teeth. “Some grapefruit have a smattering of speckles.”

“Really.” He was about to take Ben’s advice and go to the couch to rest, he wasn’t going to listen to his babbling any further, but he got no further than turning before Ben took the two long strides necessary to catch him by the waist, arms sliding around him once he was repositioned to face him. “And this is where you’d make the comparison to my freckles.”

Ben nodded gravely but his eyes continued to dance. “But it goes so much further than that. You are… an acquired taste. Some people may call you bitter, or perhaps sour.”

Were his arms not loosely pinned to his side he would’ve crossed them again. Instead he gave him a pointed look. “Am I laughing? I don’t hear laughter.” 

“But for all appearances the best part of a grapefruit is on the inside.” Squeezing him within his arms he felt Ben’s nose brush through his hair. Better his nose than his. “They’re thin-skinned, whether they admit it or not, but the tasty – juicy part, is inside, and well worth the wait. Plus they’re resilient. For all the people who prefer to squeeze and prod them only to toss them aside they hold up very well. A few marks don’t do anything to detract from them.” 

He contemplated the merits of smacking him. The absurdity of being called a grapefruit was hard to ignore. His hair colour being the source of yet another nickname was tiring. And yet… “It sounds like you put some thought into this,” he commented, jutting his chin out slightly. Whether it was stubbornness was questionable because the movement did allow him to tuck himself into the crook of Ben’s neck.

“And, it goes without saying.” Ben’s lips drifted to his ear, for what he suspected was a kiss but he was proven wrong when that voice went low and sly. “You are my fruit.”

He swatted him, hard, when one hand dropped to squeeze his butt cheek. Ben crowed with laughter, trying to squeeze him wherever he could but Hux stepped back, smacking his arms back for every retreat and foiled squeeze. “Just! When I was about to forgive you!” He kept swatting him, a better reaction than the grin that was threatening to bely his scolding words. “For that ridiculous name!” One last smack and he stepped back with one last blind move, barely missing their table. “Now stop comparing me to produce and make my soup.”

Ben managed to quiet his laughing but was grinning, saluting at the order. “Yes General.”

Pointing finger turned to splayed fingers of frustration. He turned around in time to hide his exasperated silent laugh. “Just start cooking!”

He retreated to the couch, deciding that to get back at Ben he would make the executive decision on the dvds. He pulled the selection onto his lap, rifling through them, when the rapid sound of knife meeting cutting board slowed. “Don’t worry, I’ll get to eat my grapefruit later,” Ben called.

Hux rolled his eyes, putting Ben’s favourite movie in the ‘No’ pile. “Yeah yeah,” he grumbled, pitching his voice a second time to repeat the words for Ben to hear.

Based on the laugh that came from the kitchen he heard well enough. “I didn’t say the grapefruit. I said _my_ grapefruit.”

The flush that crossed his cheeks had nothing to do with indignation. 

The silence must’ve confused Ben as he raised his voice. “Did you hear me Grape?”

Hux dropped his head to the back of the couch, barely holding back a coughing fit to yell. “Yes!”


End file.
